Poetry Reading - Poet Laureate of the UP

Russell Thorburn, Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula, is visiting Michigan Tech and presenting a reading, workshop, and slide show to the Michigan Tech community from 7 to 8:30 p.m., on Thursday, April 10, in the East Reading room of the Van Pelt and Opie Library. This exceptional event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Friends of the Van Pelt Library; all are welcome and no preregistration is required.

Is virtuality close enough to reality? A comparison of the effectiveness of simulations with traditional laboratory activities in a high school biology class

Some schools do not have ideal access to laboratory space and supplies. Computer simulations of laboratory activities can be a cost-effective way of presenting experiences to students, but are those simulations as effective at supplementing content concepts? This study compared the use of traditional lab activities illustrating the principles of cell respiration and photosynthesis in an introductory high school biology class with virtual simulations of the same activities. Additionally student results were analyzed to assess if student conceptual understanding was affected by the complexity of the simulation. Although all student groups posted average gain increases between the pre and post-tests coupled with positive effect sizes, students who completed the wet lab version of the activity consistently outperformed the students who completed the virtual simulation of the same activity. There was no significant difference between the use of more or less complex simulations. Students also tended to rate the wet lab experience higher on a motivation and interest inventory.

Financial decision making about found oil and gas in Ghana : real options vs. traditional methods

This research is a study of the use of capital budgeting methods for investment decisions. It uses both the traditional methods and the newly introduced approach called the real options analysis to make a decision. The research elucidates how capital budgeting can be done when analysts encounter projects with high uncertainty and are capital intensive, for example oil and gas production. It then uses the oil and gas find in Ghana as a case study to support its argument. For a clear understanding a thorough literature review was done, which highlights the advantages and disadvantages of both methods. The revenue that the project will generate and the costs of production were obtained from the predictions by analysts from GNPC and compared to others experts’ opinion. It then applied both the traditional and real option valuation on the oil and gas find in Ghana to determine the project’s feasibility. Although, there are some short falls in real option analysis that are presented in this research, it is still helpful in valuing projects that are capital intensive with high volatility due to the strategic flexibility management possess in their decision making. It also suggests that traditional methods of evaluation should still be maintained and be used to value projects that have no options or those with options yet the options do not have significant impact on the project. The research points out the economic ripples the production of oil and gas will have on Ghana’s economy should the project be undertaken. These ripples include economic growth, massive job creation and reduction of the balance of trade deficit for the country. The long run effect is an eventually improvement of life of the citizens. It is also belief that the production of gas specifically can be used to generate electricity in Ghana which would enable the country to have a more stable and reliable power source necessary to attract more foreign direct investment.

Analysis of a Non-Traditional Micro Tube Hydroforming Process

As the demand for miniature products and components continues to increase, the need for manufacturing processes to provide these products and components has also increased. To meet this need, successful macroscale processes are being scaled down and applied at the microscale. Unfortunately, many challenges have been experienced when directly scaling down macro processes. Initially, frictional effects were believed to be the largest challenge encountered. However, in recent studies it has been found that the greatest challenge encountered has been with size effects. Size effect is a broad term that largely refers to the thickness of the material being formed and how this thickness directly affects the product dimensions and manufacturability. At the microscale, the thickness becomes critical due to the reduced number of grains. When surface contact between the forming tools and the material blanks occur at the macroscale, there is enough material (hundreds of layers of material grains) across the blank thickness to compensate for material flow and the effect of grain orientation. At the microscale, there may be under 10 grains across the blank thickness. With a decreased amount of grains across the thickness, the influence of the grain size, shape and orientation is significant. Any material defects (either natural occurring or ones that occur as a result of the material preparation) have a significant role in altering the forming potential. To date, various micro metal forming and micro materials testing equipment setups have been constructed at the Michigan Tech lab. Initially, the research focus was to create a micro deep drawing setup to potentially build micro sensor encapsulation housings. The research focus shifted to micro metal materials testing equipment setups. These include the construction and testing of the following setups: a micro mechanical bulge test, a micro sheet tension test (testing micro tensile bars), a micro strain analysis (with the use of optical lithography and chemical etching) and a micro sheet hydroforming bulge test. Recently, the focus has shifted to study a micro tube hydroforming process. The intent is to target fuel cells, medical, and sensor encapsulation applications. While the tube hydroforming process is widely understood at the macroscale, the microscale process also offers some significant challenges in terms of size effects. Current work is being conducted in applying direct current to enhance micro tube hydroforming formability. Initially, adding direct current to various metal forming operations has shown some phenomenal results. The focus of current research is to determine the validity of this process.

BALTHMETRIC SURVEY IN THE KEWEENAW WATER WAY IN MICHIGAN, USA, MAKING 3D MODEL, AND COMPARING SONAR EQUIPMENT OF THE MODERN AUV AND THE TRADITIONAL SINGLE BEAM SONAR

This thesis represents the overview of hydrographic surveying and different types of modern and traditional surveying equipment, and data acquisition using the traditional single beam sonar system and a modern fully autonomous underwater vehicle, IVER3. During the thesis, the data sets were collected using the vehicles of the Great Lake Research Center at Michigan Technological University. This thesis also presents how to process and edit the bathymetric data on SonarWiz5. Moreover, the three dimensional models were created after importing the data sets in the same coordinate system. In these interpolated surfaces, the details and excavations can be easily seen on the surface models. In this study, the profiles are plotted on the surface models to compare the sensors and details on the seabed. It is shown that single beam sonar might miss some details, such as pipeline and quick elevation changes on the seabed when we compare to the side scan sonar of IVER3 because the single side scan sonar can acquire better resolution. However, sometimes using single beam sonar can save your project time and money because the single beam sonar is cheaper than side scan sonars and the processing might be easier than the side scan data.

Traditional Whaling Methods in Modern Times

Dr. Russell Fielding of the University of Denver discusses his study of artisanal whaling traditions throughout the Atlantic, with field sites in the Faroe Islands, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean.

Strengthening a Traditional Fire Protection Course by Using Fault Trees

Traditional courses and textbooks in occupational safety emphasize rules, standards, and guidelines. This paper describes the early stage of a project to upgrade a traditional college course on fire protection by incorporating learning materials to develop the higher-level cognitive ability known as synthesis. Students will be challenged to synthesize textbook information into fault tree diagrams. The paper explains the place of synthesis in Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive abilities and the utility of fault trees diagrams as a tool for synthesis. The intended benefits for students are: improved abilities to synthesize, a deeper understanding of fire protection practices, ability to construct fault trees for a wide range of undesired occurrences, and perhaps recognition that heavy reliance on memorization is the hard way to learn occupational safety and health.

The Long Tail of the Rainbow Serpent: New Technologies and the Protection and Promotion of Traditional Cultural Expressions

New technologies, in particular those stemming from digitisation, allow amongst other things the production of perfect copies, instantaneous and ubiquitous distribution of and easy access to information with no real location restrictions. The effects of these technological advances have largely been perceived as negative for the protection of traditional cultural expressions (TCE), both because of the peculiarities of the digital networked environment and because of the lack of appropriate intellectual property protection models for TCE. The purpose of this article is, while accounting for the diversity and complexity of issues related to TCE, to reveal a more positive side of digital technologies. It shows the potential of these to be proactively applied and the further reaching possibilities for designing an efficient multi-level and multi-faceted toolbox for the protection and promotion of TCE in the digital ecology.

Intellectual Property and Traditional Cultural Expressions in a Digital Environment

In the face of increasing globalisation, and a collision between global communication systems and local traditions, this book offers innovative trans-disciplinary analyses of the value of traditional cultural expressions (TCE) and suggests appropriate protection mechanisms for them. It combines approaches from history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology and law, and charts previously untravelled paths for developing new policy tools and legal designs that go beyond conventional copyright models. Its authors extend their reflections to a consideration of the specific features of the digital environment, which, despite enhancing the risks of misappropriation of traditional knowledge and creativity, may equally offer new opportunities for revitalising indigenous peoples' values and provide for the sustainability of TCE.This book will appeal to scholars interested in multidisciplinary analyses of the fragmentation of international law in the field of intellectual property and traditional cultural expressions. It will also be valuable reading for those working on broader governance and human rights issues.

Traditional lesion detection aids

Lesion detection aids ideally aim at increasing the sensitivity of visual caries detection without trading off too much in terms of specificity. The use of a dental probe (explorer), bitewing radiography and fibre-optic transillumination (FOTI) have long been recommended for this purpose. Today, probing of suspected lesions in the sense of checking the 'stickiness' is regarded as obsolete, since it achieves no gain of sensitivity and might cause irreversible tooth damage. Bitewing radiography helps to detect lesions that are otherwise hidden from visual examination, and it should therefore be applied to a new patient. The diagnostic performance of radiography at approximal and occlusal sites is different, as this relates to the 3-dimensional anatomy of the tooth at these sites. However, treatment decisions have to take more into account than just lesion extension. Bitewing radiography provides additional information for the decision-making process that mainly relies on the visual and clinical findings. FOTI is a quick and inexpensive method which can enhance visual examination of all tooth surfaces. Both radiography and FOTI can improve the sensitivity of caries detection, but require sufficient training and experience to interpret information correctly. Radiography also carries the burden of the risks and legislation associated with using ionizing radiation in a health setting and should be repeated at intervals guided by the individual patient's caries risk. Lesion detection aids can assist in the longitudinal monitoring of the behaviour of initial lesions.

Inhibition of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 by plant extracts used as traditional antidiabetic medicines

Elevated glucocorticoids are a key risk factor for metabolic diseases, and the glucocorticoid-activating enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (11beta-HSD1) represents a promising therapeutic target. We measured the potential of six traditional antidiabetic medicinal plants extracts to inhibit 11beta-HSD1 activity and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activation in transfected HEK-293 cells. Leave extracts of Eriobotrya japonica preferentially inhibited 11beta-HSD1 over 11beta-HSD2. Extracts of roasted but not native coffee beans preferentially inhibited 11beta-HSD1 over 11beta-HSD2, emphasizing the importance of sample preparation. Thus, natural compounds inhibiting 11beta-HSD1 may contribute to the antidiabetic effect of the investigated plant extracts.